SPORTS
A Running History with
Cross Country 32
W
Coach Matt Lai
Just a few of the many freshmen that joined cross country this year.
hat started out as an extremely small cross country team has grown into a program larger than anyone could have imagined. Head coach, Matt Lai, has been coaching the team intermittently since 2001. He remembered the size of the team back then. “There were three kids on the team the year before I got there. Two graduated, so we only had one returning runner; Peter Trudelle ‘03. We got eight other students to join and ended up with nine kids my first year–eight boys, one girl.” Fast forward to the 2016 team, which consisted of fifty-one runners, twenty-six of them freshmen, which is over a third of the entire freshman class. So how does a coach build a sizeable program and convince students to join a sport in which some people see as “punishment?” Lai had a possible explanation. “I think kids come in not really knowing what to expect. Lots of kids grow up doing soccer or baseball or football. Not many grow up running long distance. But when they start, they realize it’s a lot more fun than you’d think.” Cross country is more than just the individual runner; they also compete as a team. “Everyone is working together, supporting each other, all trying to improve,” Lai commented. As a team, the cross country program’s first big year was in 2002 when they first qualified for the State Championships. The team had finished third in CCS by barely edging out Valley Christian 102-104. The 2013 team would make school history with both the boys and girls teams sweeping CCS. It was the first CCS win for the boys, and the second CCS win for the girls team. Looking back, Lai remembers the excitement of the unexpected league finals win by the 2015 girls team. “Our girls came out of nowhere to win. We were walking and cheering on teammates in another race afterwards when they announced it, and none of us were sure if we heard it quite right. Then some parents came running over shouting about it, and everyone just started jumping around.”
